


The Color Red

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Gen, Langst, Tital is a bit misleading, Violence, and just good old angst, but this is not a Klance fic, kangst, lance and Keith spend a lot of time together, not about Keith (for once in my fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-23 23:56:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10729956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Lance just can't get a break in love. His latest crush kidnaps him and Keith, and hands them over to Zarkon. Lance blames himself, but has to be the one to get them out of this. This is a distraction fiction; sorry anyone waiting for my other fan fictions to update, I got distracted by the next shiny thing in my brain. Rating might change.





	1. I See a Place with Liberty for All

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, let's clear this up right now. Quality Lance and Keith time. BUT no Klance. Just them. being friends. and that is it. Proceed.

“So, you’re the blue paladin?”

“Of course, Sweetheart. Do you doubt it?”

“Well, maybe you stole his lion.”

Lance snorted. He and Keith were out getting supplies, and had happened to run into a couple of aliens with everything they needed. Well, Keith was getting supplies. Lance was flirting with the female alien of the two. But close enough. “ _And_ his armor?”

She gasped. “You killed him?”

“No! I am the blue paladin!”

She licked her eyeball, which Lance figured was the same a batting an eyelash for these reptilian aliens. “Will you take me for a ride?”

His smile disappeared. “Uh, no. Sorry, last time I did that, my lion got stolen. Not eager to repeat that experience.”

She pouted. “You don’t trust me?”

“Hey, beautiful, I don’t even know your name.” He was starting to find her a little less attractive with the whole eyeball-licking thing, but, hey, it was just a little fling.

“My name is Dhivehi. My business partner is my brother, Dzongkhag.”

Lance whistled. “Dhivehi and Dzongkhag. Try saying _that_ five times fast. Just rolls right off the tongue.”

She giggled. “I have always said much the same myself. Your language is very interesting, I have almost never heard it, except for that one with glass on his face.”

“Our language… you didn’t already speak it?”

She shook her head. “No. We have language filters.” She pulled out a small globe, and showed Lance a similar globe attached to her throat. “Our throats were created mostly for our own language, and has difficulty forming the sounds others do. This is a language filter that alters our voices as they come out of our mouths to sound like your languages’ equivalent. But tell me. You are the blue paladin, and he is the red. Why is this so?”

“Our lions just… chose us that way. Based on our skill sets and personality.”

“I would have thought you would be the red paladin. All… instinctual and a _very_ skilled pilot.”

“You really think so? Nah, Keith was _born_ to fly. He is _way_ more instinctual than I am, and _definitely_ more dangerous. And besides,” he grinned, “I look _terrible_ in red. Totally awful. The color red suits Keith.”

Dhivehi giggled. “Yes, I’m sure that was totally a reason that the red lion chose him.”

“Was that sarcasm? I was beginning to think you were all sugar and no salt.”

Keith jogged over, the red lion now filled with supplies. He looked somewhat annoyed. “Are you done flirting? We need to leave.”

“Relax, Keith. Zarkon and Lotor have _no_ idea where we are. We’re _fine_.”

“That could change at any moment. We need to get back to the castle as soon as possible.”

Lance smiled winningly at Dhivehi. “Sorry, love. Guess I’m leaving. It was nice being with you. Maybe we’ll meet again.”

She smiled sweetly back. “I wish you could stay. I think you probably will.”

Lance got chills down his spine. “What does _that_ mean?”

A flash of metal caught his eye, and he turned to see Dzongkhag pulling a knife and throwing it. It was hurtling towards him, and he _knew_ he needed to move, but he was frozen.

“Lance! MOVE!” Something slammed into him, hard, and Lance was sent sprawling to the ground. There was a _thunk_ and a moan. Lance rolled over to see what was happening as Keith crashed to the ground, a knife embedded in his stomach.

“KEITH!”

Dhivehi smirked and aimed some kind of gun at him. An electric shock hit him, and he spasmed on the ground. As his vison faded to black, he heard Dhivehi say,

“You were right, Lance. The color red _does_ suit him.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used my time-tried method of typing random letters on microsoft word and seeing what spell check came up with for the aliens. No idea what they mean, so feel free to look them up.


	2. And Yet I Know, the Truth Will Rise and Fall

Lance woke up because he was laying on something wet. And sticky. Gross. He groaned and tried to sit up, which took several tries, since his hands were cuffed behind him. He looked to see what he’d been laying in that was so wet, and yelled. He’d been lying in blood.

After the first few moments of utter shock, and once he realized that the blood wasn’t his, his surprise faded away to absolute anger. They had stabbed Keith and had barely bothered to even pull the knife out! What was wrong with them?!

“Oh, he woke up.” Lance looked at Dhivehi and snarled. He. Was. Going. To. _Kill_. Her. “Lance, you look a little flushed. Is something wrong?”

“Don’t you- You are a little- Keith is going to die! What do you think you’re doing?! Plus, Red and Blue are going to _rip you both to shreds_ , and I hope I’m there to watch it!”

“Oh, is he going to die?” She peered into the cell. “Hm, I hope not. He’s worth _so_ much more alive. Although I’m sure Emperor Zarkon will pay well for killing him as well. If not, I’m sure we can sell his body to a scientist. I’m sure they’d _love_ having the body of a half-breed Galra. Although they might deduct payment for the damage to his organs.”

Lance made a lunge for Dhivehi. “You. Little. I’m going to _kill you_!!”

She clucked her tongue at him, and a surge of electricity jolted through Lance’s body. “Tsk, tsk. Violence is _never_ an option, Lance.”

“You stabbed him! How is _that_ not violence!”

Another surge of electricity. “Snide remarks are not prudent either. I’ll do what I want. This is my chance to get back in the good graces of the empire after my last blunder.”

“Last blunder?”

“I caught a runaway slave. A human, like you. But he escaped. I had already informed the Empire that I had them. They were most displeased when they found out he was gone.”

“A human? Matt?!”

“I believe that was his name, yes.”

“You found Matt? That’s awesome, wait till I tell Pidge, she’ll be so… Oh. Right.”

Dhivehi turned opened the cell door, and Lance’s handcuffs immediately locked to the floor. She nudged Keith with her foot. “You’re not going to die on me, are you? That would be awfully rude of you.” Without warning, Keith lunged out with his bayard, slicing off Dhivehi’s foot. Her green alien blood sprayed out, but her foot regenerated almost instantly. She screeched. “you filthy little half-breed!”  Keith didn’t look like he had the energy to respond. Instead, he looked at Lance, like he was trying to tell him something. His eyes flicked towards Dhivehi and then back at Lance. _Oh,_ Lance realized, _He wants me to watch her, to see her weaknesses and strengths. Figure out a plan to defeat her. Sorry, Keith. You’re looking at the wrong guy for a plan. I’m just here to screw up and get my friends stabbed._ But he watched anyway, even though it pained him to watch her kick Keith. But Keith’s pain-filled eyes conveyed his message. _Don’t do what I would do. Don’t yell at her. Observe. Figure her out._ He almost attacked her anyway. Stupid Keith, being all self-sacrificing and noble. Stupid… Lance’s lip quivered. It was all his fault. He had flirted with stupid Dhivehi. That knife had been meant for him. It was his fault. And if Keith died, that would be his fault too.

“L-Lance.” Lance’s head snapped up. Dhivehi had finished punishing Keith and had moved out of the cell, shaking her head in disgust. His cuffs detached from the floor. He crawled as best he could over to his injured friend.

“Keith?”

“It hurts.”

Lance winced. He didn’t like seeing his friend like this. Scared, vulnerable. “I know. I know. You have to hang tight, okay?”

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“If I… if I let go, will it stop hurting?”

Lance gulped. “Please don’t let go. If you do… you’ll never see Shiro again.”

Keith’s vision clouded as he considered this. “Can’t see Shiro? Or my dad?”

“Keith…”

“My dad… I’ll see _him_ if I let go, won’t I?”

“I… I don’t know. Please, please hang on for me.”

“But…”

Lance looked at Keith’s wound. Dhivehi’s kicks had re-opened it, and a steady trickle of blood was pouring out. He reached for it, glad that Dhivehi had at least handcuffed him with his hands in front. And then another electric shock jolted through him. He was going to be microwaved like a potato before this was done.

“uh-uh. No helping.”

“Do you _want_ him to die?!”

“If he can’t survive on his own, he is weak and deserves to die.”

“ _I_ wouldn’t’ve survived without him!”

“Exactly. But because he threw his life away for you, that means you are _both_ weak.”

“You are sick! He won’t do anything to you if I patch him up!”

Dhivehi’s eyes glinted. “Oh, but you said it yourself. He’s more dangerous. We can’t take any chances. We were hoping he was as instinctual as you had said, and would shove you out of the way, effectively getting the more dangerous one out of the way.”

Lance’s head drooped. His fault. His fault, his fault, his fault. It was all his fault, just like always.

“Have a nice trip. We’re almost there.” Dhivehi left the area, leaving Lance to wallow in his guilt.

Why was he such a screw-up? Why couldn’t he _ever_ do _anything_ right? He wondered where the lions were. Probably Blue hated him right now, for being so awful. Red definitely hated him. He deserved this. He deserved to be captured by Zarkon. Keith didn’t. Salty tears dripped down Lance’s face, splattering to the floor.

“attention, prisoners, we have arrived at Zarkon’s battleship. Please hang tight.” Lance’s cuffs locked to the floor again, and silvery chains snaked out of the floor to secure Keith. Lance could feel the thrum of a tractor beam as they were drawn in.

Dhivehi stalked back in and unlocked the cell, aiming her electricity gun at Lance again. “Alright, you two. Time to meet Emperor Zarkon.” The gun fired, and Lance was almost glad for the darkness.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yah, I'm probably going to end every chapter with Lance getting knocked out. Easy way out.


	3. That's Just the Way It Goes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lot of Langst in this one.

"So, this is the fabled red paladin, who attempted to fight me himself, who tried to blow up my battleship and who took over the black lion when I was sure it would be mine. Can’t say I’m impressed. Are you sure this is him, Dhivehi? I would hate to have to punish you for bringing me a dud. A dud that I paid for, and who looks like he might die at any moment.”

“This is him, sir. He was flying the red lion, and we all know how difficult that can be.”

“Yes, well, I can’t say I trust you entirely after that last fiasco.”

“Of course, Emperor Zarkon. I understand completely. But I assure you, this is him. And this is the blue paladin.”

“Please,” Lance burst out, “you have to help him, he’s going to _die_!” Lance hated himself for pleading with Zarkon, but Keith needed help, or Zarkon was right. He could die at any moment.

“Silence,” Dhivehi hissed, “do not speak to the Emperor!” she cuffed Lance on the head.

“Now, now, Dhivehi. I believe he is my prisoner now, and you can’t do what you want with him. Going to die? That would be… unfortunate. I have such plans for him.” Zarkon’s eyes glinted, and Lance was almost sure he would rather Keith die that face what Zarkon had planned. “Well. We do have doctors. I’m sure they can save him without… amputating anything.”

There was a roar from outside the ship, and Lance’s heart pounded in his chest. His teammates! They were here, they could save him and Keith! His heart sank a little, however, when he realized it was just Blue. He trusted his lion, but he didn’t want her to get hurt. Especially since right now she had no pilot.

 _I’m coming Lance!_ She smashed into the glass. One of Zarkon’s soldiers lifted Keith off of the ground and held a gun to his head.

“Blue lion,” Zarkon called, “Do not attack, or I’ll kill the red paladin!” Blue growled and slammed her head into the glass again.

_Blue! No! They’ll kill Keith!_

_They’ll kill_ you _!_

“Very well.” Zarkon motioned to the soldier who began to pull the trigger. And then a roar sounded, and a flash of red knocked Blue away from the window. The red lion was wrestling Blue away from the window.

“My, my, I don’t think we’ve ever had something like _this_ happen before. Two lions, fighting each other to protect their paladins. This is interesting. But I’m afraid that the fight may lead your friends here. Hyper speed, please.” The Galra at the controls nodded and pushed some levers. The ship blasted away from the fighting lions, and away from the two captive paladins’ only hope.

 

 

“Now, then. We got _that_ nastiness out of the way. I don’t think that rescue is likely, so, let’s see… You.” Zarkon nodded to a soldier. “Get the red paladin to the med bay before he dies on us, will you? I bet watching him fight will be… interesting. I wonder how long it’ll be before he breaks, like the black paladin. I’m betting not very long. He looks weak, just like all humans. The Galra blood flowing through his veins is a waste.”

“You take that back!” Lance got up and ran, attempting to at the very least head-butt Zarkon. Of course, he was caught by one of Zarkon’s soldiers before he got within five feet of the conqueror. “You take it back!”

“My, my. This human is feisty. What should I take back? That humans are weak, or that his Galra blood is a waste?

“Your Galra blood doesn’t deserve to be in Keith! He’s a way better person than you’ll ever _hope_ to be! And you know what? You may think humans are weak, but just you wait until you actually take over earth! You might take it, you might win, but they won’t _ever_ stop fighting!”

“Then we will exterminate them.” Zarkon sounded bored now, like he was tiring of this conversation. “I wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had to do that. Our scientists can create human clones, a new people for your earth. If we decide it’s worth it.”

“You think it’ll be easy? You think killing the human race will be easy? Well, you’ve got another thing coming, buster! We’ve survived ice-ages, volcanos and tsunamis. No matter how many buildings earthquakes knock down, we just re-build them! And we’ve survived the greatest threat of all; ourselves. We’ve survived wars, we survived the ancients’ baby sacrifice. Heck, we survived all the stuff we did to each other, so what do you think we can do to people who aren’t us? To outside invaders who have no right to our planet? You’re going to have quite a ride trying to conquer earth, buddy. And you’re going to regret ever setting eyes on our planet. It doesn’t matter what happens in the end, because the effort you’ll put into it, the people you’ll lose, it won’t be worth it. Heck, five teens from earth got alien technology, two aliens, and look what we’re doing to you? Look what just Matt is doing to you? You think you can conquer a planet _full_ of people like us?”

Zarkon yawned. “A very… enlightening and dramatic speech. Someone take him to a cell, please. And gag him. I don’t want to hear about the beauty of the human race anymore.” He opened his eyes with a look of revulsion in them. “Although the fact that you kill your own children when they are helpless babies disturbs me somewhat.”

Lance shrugged. “They wanted to appease the gods. They killed kids. I was going for hard-core, but yeah, it was pretty awful. Ancient Phoenicians were pretty messed up.”

“The mighty human race attempted to kill themselves off. It seems even they do not want themselves to live. But enough. I am bored of hearing you talk. I will soon see you fight! Take him away.”

“Just remember,” Lance called as the Galra dragged him away, “Remember when your soldiers are dying on the battlefield, remember what I told you! Don’t mess with the human race!” The door shut behind them, leaving Zarkon sitting on his throne.

 

 

“Have fun, kid.” One of the Galra started to close the door, and then a scream rang out. Lance stood bolt upright, and dashed out the cell door, shoving the Galra over.

“Sorry,” he called, “I’ll be right back! Gotta…” he gestured weakly to the hallway, and then another scream pierced the darkness. He ran, ran as fast as he could, because that was his teammate, and _what were they doing to him_! He tore around a corner and through a door. A couple of Galra doctors were hovering over Keith with an odd tool, puzzled expressions on their faces.

“I don’t understand what’s wrong. He’s half Galra; this should work on him.”

“You idiots!” Lance shoved a couple of them over in his rush to his teammate. “He’s also half _human_! You have no idea what you’re doing, and you’re going to _kill_ him!” He reached Keith, whose face was ten times paler that it normally was, pupils dilated in pain, streaks of purple appearing in his hair. “Keith, buddy, come on, stay with me here.”

“Lance?”

“Yeah, it’s me, it’s okay, we’re going to fix this, you’re going to be okay, okay? Just hang in there.” He turned to look at the doctors. “Well? What are you waiting for? If you can’t use your tools on him, you’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. With a needle and thread.”

A couple of them scrambled off, but most of the doctors looked a little green. “Um… stitches? You sure?”

“Unless you’ve got a cyro pod, yes, I’m sure.”

One of the older doctors chuckled. “Heh. Been a while since I’ve had to do _that_. All this technology. Warps the young. They have no idea what they’re doing. I suppose stitches are still a thing on earth?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting. You know, most of the doctors here are incompetent fools. I wouldn’t mind having someone who actually knows what he’s doing. If I put in a good word for you, you could probably get transferred here and avoid the arena.”

Lance looked behind the doctor and saw the pickled remains of a dissected alien. He gulped. “No, thanks.”

The doctor shrugged. “Suit yourself.” The ones who had run off returned with all the necessary medical tools and began their work. They didn’t have any anesthetic.

“We’re going to have to secure him, or we’ll do more damage. Earthling, I think you’ll have to do that.”

Keith shuddered when the doctors got close to him. “Lance, don’t let them near me, please, they hurt.”

Lance felt really bad for what he was going to do, but he knew he had to. He nodded. “Okay, Keith, let me just…” He whipped out a pair of handcuffs the doctor had given him and secured Keith to the bed.

“…Lance?”

“I’m sorry, Keith, I really am.”

“Lance? NO! Lance, don’t!”

Lance finished tying him down. “I’m so, so, sorry, Keith, we have to, we don’t have another choice.”

“NO!” Keith struggled against his bonds to no avail. “Lance, no, don’t, please, I’m sorry, for whatever it was, I’m sorry, please don’t!”

The older doctor approached. “Hush, young one. Hush now. We’re here to help.” He gently pressed his thumb to Keith’s forehead, right between his eyes, and moved his thumb in a circle. “Shhh.” Keith continued to protest, but his protests got weaker as his eyes rolled back into his head.

Lance felt sick. He had often used that trick to get cranky younger siblings to go to sleep when they were refusing to go to bed, but it seemed to be cruel and heartless now, even though it would help him. “Will he be okay?”

“I believe so. I don’t know how effective that will be, but the only other options would have been to do it while he was awake and moving or to knock him out, and I’m _trying_ not to accidentally kill him. You should stay, just in case he wakes up.”

Lance nodded and moved closer, slipping his hand into Keith’s. “Hold on, Keith. You’ll be okay. Just hold on for me.”

 

 

Lance was almost relieved when they dumped him back in his cell.

The Galra soldier who had brought him back gave him an odd look. “You know, you could have escaped. There are soldiers here who would have helped you. Thace wasn’t the only member of the Blade of Marmora here. Even the lowest soldier knows that.”

“I couldn’t leave my friend.”

“You are very odd, human. Most would have abandoned him to his fate. Especially since he is half Galra. Most would see him as a loose cannon, a variable not worth it.”

“Well, he’s not just my teammate, he’s my friend. If I left him here, what kind of a friend would I be?”

The soldier nodded, as if he’d expected no less. “I see. You are still young and untouched. Sometimes you can’t do everything in war. You can’t save everybody; you have to pick your battles.”

 Lance remembered (more than a little uncomfortably) how Keith had said almost the exact same thing when Allura was captured. But wasn’t that the point? Keith was a soldier; Lance was a… he wasn’t sure what. Goofball, definitely, but what was he? Shiro was a leader, Keith was a soldier, Hunk was a compassionate person who made everything better; if he hadn’t had to be a paladin, he probably would have been a healer. Pidge was their hacker of course; if they could keep her out of the battle and safe, they would. But what was he? He called himself sharpshooter, but nobody else did. Well, Shiro did that once, but since then, nobody had. He was… nobody. Comic relief. The flirt. The screw-up. The idiot. Lance put his head in his hands, and let his tears fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's okay! It'll get better, I promise! By the way, that trick really does work. I've used it on fussing babies who were tired. They went right to sleep.


	4. A Word Now to the Wise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said things would get better? That's not this chapter.

“Present for you.” The Galra soldier outside of Lance’s cell opened the door and dumped Keith in before shaking his head and leaving, muttering something about the sentimentality of humans.

“Keith! You’re okay!” Lance threw himself at his teammate, tackling him in a hug.

“’Okay’ is a bit of a relative term,” Keith grumbled, extracting himself from Lance’s hug, “But I don’t have a gaping hole in my stomach anymore, so by those standards, yes, I’m okay. And when I get my hands on Dzongkhag, that guy is going to wish he’d never been born.”

“Um… you don’t hate me, do you?”

Keith gave him a puzzled glance. “Hate you? For what?”

Lance inwardly sighed in relief. He didn’t remember. “Oh, just, you know, um, for everything that happened. I mean, if I hadn’t been paralyzed with fear, you wouldn’t’ve gotten stabbed.”

“Lance, you also saved my life. Without you, I doubt Zarkon would have sent me to a doctor. He would have dumped me in a cell and watched what happened. Which would have been me dying. I doubt his “lordship” would have been pleased with that. So… thanks.” They both sat in silence for a minute.

“Keith?”

“Hm?”

“You think they’re going to… make us fight? In the arena?”

“Probably.” Keith looked at Lance, who was sure that his face was not looking calm right now. “Oh. Was that not the right thing to say?”

“Um… something reassuring would have been nice.”

“Okay. Uh, how about, I’m sure you’ll probably die quickly enough that it won’t hurt?”

“Keith! No! That is the _opposite_ of reassuring!”

“Sorry! I’m not good at ‘reassuring’! That’s why Shiro made a better leader!”

Lance put his head in his hands. “Great. My only ally is a realist who can’t even say anything reassuring.”

“Hey!”

The same soldier who had brought Keith in came back with a resigned look on his face. “Zarkon wants a paladin to fight. Choose which one of you.”

“Me,” Keith said it at the same time as Lance. They glared at each other. “No, me!”

Keith stood up. “Nope, it’s me, Lance you’re going to be eaten alive out there.” Lance sighed and discreetly poked Keith in the stomach. His friend turned green and hissed with pain.

“Or maybe I should sit down.” He sat down with a thump.

Lance turned to the soldier. “Looks like he’s out of action, better take me!”

Keith hissed a little at him. “Why you little…”

“Sorry, Keith. You can’t be the noble sacrifice _all_ the time. Let someone else have a turn.”

“Last time you were the noble sacrifice, you got blown up! I _think_ we should avoid that! Tempting as it is right now to blow you up.”

“Yes, well, you _just_ got to be the noble sacrifice! It’s my turn!”

The soldier sighed again. “Fine. Blue paladin it is. Let’s go.”

“If they give you a sword, turn your body to the side! Less surface area for them to hit! Use the flat of the blade! Edge on edge will break the sword and you’ll be defenseless!” Keith was frantically shouting random tips at Lance as the soldier began to lock the cell. “Stay balanced! And no showboating! Remember, patience-” The door slammed shut on whatever he was going to say.

 

 

“One of the mighty paladins of Voltron! Can he hold up under the violence of our reigning champion, Daksha? Let’s find out! Swords up! Ready… Fight!” This alien was the same species as Dhivehi, so Lance knew he could regenerate. What else? They seemed to have incredibly tough scales, and violent tendencies. But how did one go about defending himself from him? Lance vaguely wondered if his head would regenerate if he cut it off before jumping out of the way of Daksha’s blade.

 _What were Keith’s instructions? Um… keep balanced, stand sideways, that one sounds stupid. Flat of blade!_ He brought his own sword, catching the edge of Daksha’s sword on its flat side. There was a clang, but it was Daksha’s arm that went wild. Lance frantically swung his sword, bringing the flat side smashing into the side of Daksha’s head. He dropped to the ground as the Galra oooed appreciatively. But the wound was already healing over, and Lance was forced to jump out of the way to avoid getting chopped in half. The sword however, sliced through Lance’s eyebrow. He instinctively closed his eyes, and brought the sword up to protect his eye. His opponent’s sword sliced down, glancing off of his blade, and continuing its path on Lance’s face. Lance tried to open his eye, but the blood blinded him. It was time to do what he did best. Talk. Bull his way out of this.

“Why are you doing this?”

The alien stopped to stare at him. “Um… because they told us to. Are you daft?”

Lance still couldn’t open his eye. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. What can they do?”

“Human, I’m not doing this because I _want_ to. I’m doing this because a while ago, my hatching-mates captured a human. They were going to turn him in to Zarkon, but he escaped. I was a trusted advisor, and Zarkon humored me. I’m working off their debt for failure.”

Lance’s eye shot open out of pure shock. “Your siblings wouldn’t happen to be named Dhivehi and Dzongkhag, would they?”

Daksha stared at him. “You know my hatching-mates?”

“Yeah. Those slime balls turned us in!”

Daksha laughed, slapping his knee. “Oh, my hatching-mates. Those two. I told them, ‘Move on with your lives. Forget me. I’ll be fine. Go, live.’ But did they listen, no, they went after the one thing Zarkon wants, the paladins of Voltron. And the funny part is that they actually did it. They did what no Galra was able to do. Heh. Well, I guess that means I don’t have to do this anymore. I consider their debt paid. He sheathed his sword and clapped Lance on the shoulder. “Sorry about your eye. I forget that others don’t have the regenerative ability we do.”

“Enough!” Both gladiators looked up to Zarkon’s box. “One of you, kill the other, _right now_!” Neither of them moved. “Fine! Flood the arena!”

Daksha’s eyes widened. “Come on, kid, we have to get up on those towers before the arena floods.”

“Why? It’s just a little water. I can swim.”

“No, you don’t understand. The water is full of creatures that keep the water in a constant state of electricity. If you touch that water…” he dragged one finger across his throat. “Bzz. Dead. Come on!” Daksha grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him to a pillar. “Start climbing! Climb like your life depends on it, because it does!”

 

Lance used everything he had. He used the sword, and when the blade broke, he used his bare hands to scale the tower. When he got about a yard from the top, his arms and legs gave out, and he let go. He almost fell into the water that was slowly seeping in (and had electric eels in it; Lance was going to have to have a serious talk to Keith’s mom when they found her about bringing dangerous animals from the earth to Zarkon) but a strong hand gripped his wrist. Daksha pulled him up. The water levels rose until only a tenth of the pillar was showing.

“Now what?”

“Now we wait for this pillar to fall,” Daksha replied grimly, “I hope you’re a good jumper.”

“Wait, what?”

“Zarkon turns prisoners who don’t want to fight into a game. See how long they can survive before one of them falls into the water. He speeds the process up by collapsing the towers that you can stand on so you’re forced to jump or die.”

“Oh.”

“Do _exactly_ as I do.”

“Why are you helping me?” Lance blurted out the question before he could stop himself. “I mean, please, don’t stop, but why are you helping me?”

Daksha turned to him, eyes grave. “I have seen this life. I know what it’s like. And you were turned in for my sake. For my hatching-mate’s debt. I owe you. The least I can do is make sure you survive this match. And… maybe… when I’m free for good… I could come back for you and your teammate. After all, the red paladin was brutalized for me. By my own brother and sister, no less. I owe him an even greater debt. And I owe my hatching-mates a _very_ lengthy lecture about kidnapping etiquette. Now. Do what I do, and _don’t miss a single step_.”

Lance gulped and nodded. The tower began to shake, and Daksha closed his eyes. He rolled with the movements. And then he opened his eyes. “Jump! Now! This way! He jumped right off the tower, Lance following him. The tower collapsed, rock floating on the surface of the water for moments before sinking into the depths. Daksha and Lance took advantage of these moments to hop from rock to rock to the next tower. They did it three times. But the last time…

Lance yelped as an eel, impatient for its meal, jumped out of the water at him. He only lost focus for a moment, but in that moment his jump was off. He hit the side of the pillar and started to slide down into the water

“NO!” Daksha swung down, snagging Lance’s shirt and tossing him back up the pillar. Lance slammed into the top, nearly rolling over the other side. He ran to the edge of the pillar where he had nearly died, and made a grab for Daksha. His hand wrapped around Daksha’s wrist, and the weight nearly pulled him off the tower again.

“Hold on!”

“You have to let me go, paladin!”

“I’m not going to let you go! Forget about it!”

“Let! Me! Go!”

“NO!”

“Paladin, you have to! Only one of us can survive this, and it has to be you! Escape! Defeat Zarkon! And… Remember.” Daksha smiled, eyes soft. “Tell Dhivehi I’m sorry. I should have taken better care of her.” He raised his free hand, and dug his claws into Lance’s arm. Lance let go in instinct and pain, and watched, horrified, as Daksha fell into the water. The electric eels buzzed, the water snapped, and Daksha was no more. A heart-rending scream rang out from Zarkon’s box, as Dhivehi saw what was happening. Lance had never felt more wretched in his whole life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daksha was never meant to be this cool, sorry.


	5. The World Was Meant to Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THEGALRAHOBBITOFPLANETGALLIFREY SAID, LET THERE BE FLUFF. Kind of. In my weird way. Lotor makes a guest appearance!

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Okay is a bit of a relative term, don’t you think? I’m not dead, so by those standards, yes, I’m okay.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You know what I’m talking about. What happened to your face?”

“I got sliced. My arm got clawed. It’ll be fine.”

“That’s not what I meant. Well, I did, but that’s not _all_ I meant. Did you, um,” he cleared his throat, “kill anyone?”

“No. He… he became a friend. And then… he died. Helping me live.”

“Oh. I, um… sorry.”

“Would you have done it?”

“What?”

“Would you have killed him? Or anyone?”

“I… I don’t know. I really don’t. I would love to say that I would have done the same as you. Made peace. But… to be honest, I don’t think that I’m that strong. You’re, well, you’re a better person than me, Lance.”

Lance snorted. “Stop trying to make me feel better. I’m a terrible person.”

“No, you’re really not.”

“I caused his death! I almost caused _your_ death!”

“I chose it! He chose it! We both accepted the risks and consequences. And any idiot can pull a heroic self-sacrificing stunt like that! That’s not strength! That’s adrenaline and a stupid selfish fear that… that your friend might die. Instinct. What you did, pleading with Zarkon for a doctor? That goes against nature, to plead with your captor. Making friends with the person trying to kill you? _That’s_ strength. You actually have to _think_ about it, and really want to do it, not just instinctively throw yourself in the way. And the fact that you feel bad, that you’re actually willing to cry? That makes _you_ more of a man. Holding tears back is childish. I should know, I did it for the eighteen years of my life. Actually crying is what shows that you’re an adult.”

“You know, you really sounded like Shiro right there.”

Keith winced. “Yeesh, I did. Next thing you know I’ll be doing push-ups at three in the morning and cutting my hair.”

Lance gasped in mock horror. “No, Keith! The mullet is family!”

“Ha. You would _love_ it if I cut my hair.”

“No, I’m serious,” Lance continued in his horrified voice. “How else could I find you in a crowd?”

“Shut up.”

Lance nodded wisely. “Ah, more knowledgeable knowledge from our fearless leader. If only you were there for high-school. That would have made an _excellent_ senior quote. ‘Shut up.’ So rough, and yet,” he waved his hand vaguely, “ _so_ refined!”

“I swear, crying being manly or not, Lance, you are the most childish person I know.”

Lance accidentally slipped into Spanish. “Gracias.”

“De nada.”

Lance stared at Keith, who stared right back, face deadpan. “Did you just…”

“Did I what?”

“Did you just speak Spanish?”

“Lance, my state _borders Mexico_. You honestly think I didn’t pick up how to say _you’re welcome_?”

“What else are you hiding from me?” Lance hoped he’d never said anything stupid in Spanish while Keith was around.

Keith shrugged. “I can say _please, thank you_ and _you’re welcome_ , and that’s about it. Oh, and I can introduce myself and count to twenty-nine. Then I dropped out of Spanish class.”

“you have to tell me these things.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s usually how I introduce myself. ‘Hi, my name is Keith. I’m half alien, and I can count to twenty-nine in Spanish. What’s your name?’”

Lance squinted at the wall. “Yeah, I guess that _is_ a little weird.” He gingerly touched his cut. “Do you think it’ll scar?”

“Probably.”

“That is so cool!”

Keith blinked. “I think I misheard you. Did you just say… that’s cool?”

“Yeah! Ladies love scars! I’ll look cool and edgy!”

“Not all scars are cool, Lance.”

“Pft. Says you. Scars are awesome! Just about every amazing anime character _ever_ has an awesome scar!”

“Life isn’t an anime. Chances are your scars won’t end up like Shiro’s. Chances are, they’re going to end up a giant white bump going through your face. It won’t look cool, it’ll look ugly.”

“I think you’re lying.”

“I’m not. Look.” Keith showed Lance a small white scar on the top of his finger. “See? Ugly and not cool.”

“How did you get a scar _there_?”

“I was cleaning out my nails with my knife.”

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Guess why I did it.”

“Um… I have no idea.”

“To look cool and edgy. It didn’t work, and I had to get stitches.”

“Oh. Well, this one will be different.”

“Fine. Don’t let me ruin your delusions of grandeur.”

“Thanks, I won’t.”

 

 

Lance was running. Running for his life. If they caught him, he’d be dead. (If who caught him…) It didn’t matter, he’d be dead. (Why was he running?) Because he’d be dead. (Who was going to kill him?) did it matter? (Yes… and was he running in blood…) All that mattered was that he was running. (Face your fears) no! If he stopped to face them, he’d die! (It’s all in your head) no, he was going to die! (Not if he stopped running and faced it)

“Lance?”

Lance woke with a start from his nightmare. Keith had one hand on his shoulder, and was shaking him. “What’s… what’s going on?”

“You fell asleep. Then you started shaking and moaning, so I woke you up.”

“You let me fall asleep?”

“You looked like you needed it.”

Lance slammed Keith into the wall, one arm shoved against his throat. “Where’s Keith?”

“What… Lance, I’m Keith, where is this coming from?”

“Keith would _never_ let me fall asleep. Not without figuring out a schedule to make sure you didn’t come for us in the night! Also…” He pulled up the fake Keith’s hand and pointed to his finger. “No scar. Who are you?”

An unearthly cackle emitted from Keith’s throat. “Oh, you are clever, paladin. There’s always something missing, isn’t there. Keith’s hair lengthened and turned white as he got taller and turned purple, his ears turning to Altean points. Hagar glared balefully at him.

“When did you get here?” Lance was _terrified_ because, quiznek, that was _Hagar_ , and she was _terrifying_ , but he was trying not to show it.

“Oh, you started to fall asleep, and he did go to wake you up, but I was in and then out of here with him within moments. I came back with his appearance. Then I went and thought that you sentimental fools would wake each other up if you had a nightmare, so I did. Turned out _that_ was a mistake.”

“Why are you even here?!”

“Well, the problem is, you went and gave the red paladin _hope_ and a _cause_ , so I had to take him away to get rid of that. After all, we can’t have all that weak-hearted softness you and Daksha showed today coming from a half-Galra.”

Lance’s heart sank. “You’re going to put Keith in the arena.”

“Oh, yes. And we want him to be a _killing machine_. Which is why we had to separate the two of you.”

“You can’t be serious! He was _stabbed_!”

“Yes, well, we don’t care. The emperor wants blood, and he doesn’t care whose. But look at that! Time for the matches. And guess what? You get to watch from the box of the emperor himself.” She grabbed Lance, and the two of them disappeared.

“Generals and soldiers! Members of the great Galra Empire! Are you ready to see… a half-blood fight?”

There was a roar from the crowd. Lance felt sick, seeing Keith down in the arena, looking small and insignificant

Prince Lotor sniffed. “I don’t see what they’re so excited about. He’s only a half-breed.”

“Shut up, son. They’re only excited because it’s new. They’ll be just as excited when he dies.”

“Fine. But I don’t see why _he_ gets to be here,” Lotor said with a sniff in Lance’s direction. “ _he’s_ not even _part_ Galra.”

“Because I said so, son, and if you don’t shut up, I’ll have Hagar turn you into a ro-beast.”

“Alien pretty-boy,” Lance hissed at him.

“Human scum.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, father.”

“Nothing, Father,” Lance mimicked, “I see you still kowtow to dad.”

“Shut up, or I’ll-”

“LOTOR!”

Lotor subsided, grumbling. Lance stuck out his tongue. Lotor surprised him by sticking out his tongue back at Lance.

“Lotor,” Zarkon said, not taking his eyes off the match where Keith was fighting some monster, “I wasn’t kidding about the ro-beast.” Lotor gulped and stopped looking at Lance.

 _Geeze, he doesn’t exactly have it easy, does he. Not sure how I’d turn out with_ him _for a father._ Then a very Pidge-like voice sounded in his head, saying, _by all the lions, Lance, stop feeling bad for people who want to_ kill _you!_ Lance bounced up and down in his seat as Keith killed whatever monster he was fighting. They sent in another one almost immediately, though, and Keith had to start over again. Pretty soon, that monster was gone too.

“This bores me.”

“Send me in, father! I’ll kill the little half-breed!”

“No. Unfortunately, you are my only child. Therefore, if ever should I die, you will have to take over the Empire. Much to my dismay. And, while I would _love_ to watch you fail so that I would have to pull you out of it, I can’t risk it.”

Lotor pouted a little, before his eyes began to gleam murderously. “Father, do you think that a blood-lust has hit him yet?”

“Well, he defeated the second opponent quite easily. It could be there.”

“You should send in the blue paladin. See what happens.”

Zarkon’s eyes took on the same glint as Lotor’s. “You know, sometimes you _do_ manage to come up with a good idea. Send the blue paladin in.”

“What? Oh, no. no, no, no, no.” The sentries ignored Lance’s cry as they lifted him up and brought him down the stairs, handing him a sword.

“Well, then, we have a new combatant already. And, oh, let’s see what happens when two of the paladins of Voltron are forced to fight each other! Ready! Swords up! Fight!”

Lance gulped. Keith’s eyes were glowing gold. Whatever a blood-lust was, this had to be it. He told himself that Keith wouldn’t hurt him. Or would he? He had certainly made enough jokes about it. Assuming they _were_ jokes. Keith walked slowly across the sand towards him and Lance shifted uneasily. Should he run? Keith was getting closer.

“Keith? Buddy?”

Keith’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “Lance?” he whispered. His eyes faded back to their normal purple color before rolling back into his head.

Lance caught him before he hit the ground. He straightened, Keith draped over one shoulder. He pulled his sword and looked at the sentries. It was time to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the Zarkon/Lotor relationship was based more or less off of the old series, in which both pretty much threatened to get Hagar to turn the other into a ro-beast. and Hagar said, "heck, I'm staying out of this. Whoever wins gets my service."


	6. Each Day Is a Surprise

“You know,” Lance remarked to the still-unconscious Keith, “It would be _very_ helpful for you to wake up right know. I’m not Shiro, I can’t carry you forever.”

“Oh, he won’t wake up.” Lance grinned as his adversary revealed herself with those words. He fired a fallen sentry’s gun in the direction of the voice, and then at the opposite side of the room. “Oh, you’ve gotten smarter, have you, paladin?” Lance cursed. She’d figured out his plan. She always seemed to teleport to the opposite side of the room, so he’d taken to firing first at her voice, and then at the opposite side of the room. But she’d figured that out, so now she was just teleporting at random. Fine, if that was how she wanted to play it…

“What do you mean, he won’t wake up?”

“His Galra side and his human side are battling for dominance.”

There! Lance fired at the voice, and then fired at random.

“Nice try, paladin, but it’ll take more than that.”

Quiznek. He _had_ to keep her talking. “Dominance?”

“Yessss. When you were sent into the arena, he was under a blood-lust, which the Galra sometimes get from killing, so that they kill on a rampage.” Again. And again, she dodged. “A Galra under blood-lust only recognizes other Galra as friend, and everyone else is foe. When you came into the arena, the Galra side saw you as an enemy, while the human side saw you as a friend. And so now the two sides are fighting for control. I suggest you drop him and run before the Galra blood-lust takes control and he kills you.”

“No way! I’m not going to leave him here with you!”

“What part of ‘death’ do you have a problem understanding? I swear, all paladins are the same. There’s practically no difference from you and the old paladins. All heroic and self-sacrificing. Bah! It makes me _sick_!” Lance fired, and there was a screech.

“You _filthy_ little…” Lance ran. He ran, as fast as he could, away from the druid, away from that room until…

“Oof!”

“Watch where you’re going, paladin!”

“Oh, great,” Lance groaned when he saw the Galra prince, “Not _you_.”

“Unfortunately for you, yes.” Lotor tossed two familiar red and blue objects up into the air.

“Hey! Those are ours!”

Lotor pocketed the red bayard with a smirk. “Mine now.” He activated Lance’s bayard. “Hm. I don’t like guns much.” He put that one back into his pocket and pulled out Keith’s. “Oh, very nice, I could get used to this one. But, I think I prefer the luxite blade. Here, you can have the red one,” he tossed the bayard to Lance, “And I’ll keep the luxite, and we’ll settle this like civilized people. By hacking each other to pieces.” He activated Keith’s luxite blade.

“That’s… that’s mine…” Oh. Keith was waking up. His eyes were fluxuating between gold and purple.

“I know. Keith, I’m going to set you down now, okay?”

Keith nodded distractedly. “Yeah, sure, but he has my knife.”

“Right. We’ll get it back, I promise. Just don’t go anywhere.”

Lance activated Keith’s bayard and gulped. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Lotor came at him fast and hard, and Lance barely kept from being decapitated.

“What’s the matter, paladin? Too slow?”

Lance growled and took a swipe at the prince, which was easily sidestepped.

“Oh, dear. It looks like his Galra side is winning.”

Lance spared a glance back at Keith, whose eyes were beginning to glow. Lotor kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying into a pile of boxes, before advancing. He raised his blade, ready to stab Lance in the stomach. Lance barely rolled out of the way, and the sword still stabbed deep into his arm.

A growl rose behind him, and something went soaring over Lance’s head, tackling Lotor to the ground. Keith. With his eyes glowing gold.

“What is wrong with you,” Lotor shouted, “You’re in full blood-lust right now! Your pathetic human side should have been canceled!”

“Prince Lotor.” Lance shivered. Keith’s voice sounded the same, but there was a more… feral quality to it. “You are a fool. You thought that it was one or the other. Galra or human. Did it never occur to you that I could be both? That my two heritages could work together?”

“WHAT?! That’s not possible!”

“It is. You said the blood-lust identified only other Galra as allies, and others were foes? My human DNA has altered what is friend and what is foe.” He grinned, and Lance saw that his canines were _way_ pointier than a normal human’s. “Guess who made it onto the foe list.”

Lotor’s eyes widened, but Keith just tugged his blade away, letting it morph back into a knife. “You made a mistake in attacking Lance. You attack my friends again, and you will die.” His eyes faded back to their normal purple as he walked away.

Lance got up and smirked at Lotor. “So there!” He stuck his tongue out and trotted off after Keith.

A whistling sound whooshed past him as Lotor jumped over Lance’s head, swinging his own luxite sword at Keith.

“Keith!” Keith turned, his knife turning back into a sword, even as Lotor brought his down. The resulting clash sent sparks flying.

“You are the fool, red paladin! You have no idea what you are messing with! _I_ can call up the bloodlust at will! You are still learning to use it!” Lotor’s eyes were glowing more fiercely than they ever had, and Lance knew that this was what a blood-lust looked like on other Galra.

“Lance. Get out of here. Find our armor. Get a pod ready. Got that?”

“Yup! I’m out! Beat him senseless!”

“I will.”

Lance ran out of the room, opening doors at random, looking for their armor. And then, there it was. Locked away. He blasted the lock open and pulled out his armor.

“Oh, baby, it is good to have you back!” He pulled the armor on as fast as he could and then grabbed Keith’s, heading for the door. Which abruptly slammed shut. “Oh, come on. I feel like I’m in a video game.”

Hagar appeared in front of him, before multiplying.

“Oh, geeze, not _this_ again.” He shot all around the room, making most of the appearances turn to smoke. She briefly lost her concentration, and the door hissed open. Lance shot through it, running through the hallways, Hagar chasing him. He looked through a window separating two hallways, and saw Keith running in the opposite room. Keith’s face matched how he felt.

“What are you doing,” Lance yelled.

“Lotor,” panted Keith, “Big! Scary! You?”

“Hagar. Not big. But scary!” He looked in the window behind Keith and saw a massive lump of purple chasing after Keith. “Holy crow! What is _that_!”

“Lotor.”

“Come back here, paladin!”

“mmm… no.” Lance shot bullets ahead of him to make sure that Hagar wasn’t going to teleport ahead of him.

“Why is Lotor so…” Lance waved his arm vaguely. “Big.”

“Apparently blood-lust isn’t just a desire to kill.”

“Geeze. Please give me warning before you do _that_ , okay?”

Keith gave a short laugh. “You sure you don’t want to be surprised?”

“Quiznek, no! Pod room!” Keith vaulted through the window and exited with Lance, Lotor smashing a hole in the wall after them.

“Just… a little… farther!” The two boys put on a burst of speed that brought them across the room. But Lotor was right behind them.

“Lance! Help!” Lance whirled around and cursed. Lotor had Keith in one massive hand and was squeezing. Keith’s bayard and luxite blade were both buried in Lotor’s hand, but they didn’t seem to faze him. He squeezed, and Lance heard bones crack. Lance pointed his gun at Lotor, who grinned and moved Keith in front of him, holding the dazed paladin in between two fingers to make the area where Lance could shoot Keith by accident larger.

“I wouldn’t, paladin.”

Lance took in a deep breath, sighted his target and squeezed the trigger. Keith went absolutely still, and the bullet passed over his head into Lotor’s eye. Lotor screamed and dropped Keith, who managed to pull his bayard and sword out of Lotor. Lotor began to shrink.

“Keith! You okay?”

“Ok,” Keith panted, “relative… term…”

“Let’s go.”

“I… agree. For once.” They walked, or in Keith’s case, stumbled to the pod.

“After you.”

 Keith nodded and stumbled in, collapsing against the wall. “Don’t… think I’m in… any state to drive.” His eyes widened. “Lance! Look out!”

Lance looked behind him in time to see a blast of dark energy surge towards him. He barely had time to think _oh, quiznek_ , before it hit him. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear Keith shouting, and Hagar laughing, and, oh, no, the pod was closing! He wasn’t going to make it. He couldn’t even get up. A memory of jet-packing around a room came to mind, and he smiled. He could do the same thing here. Lance used his jetpack and barely slid in before the pod launched.

“Cutting it… a bit fine, aren’t we?”

“Shut up. I need to just… sit a moment.”

“You need more than a moment. Lance, you got hit with a full blast of Druid energy.”

“Now would be a nice time to find out I have druid pow-” He shuddered, electricity flowing through him. Ugh, it felt like spiders creeping up his spine. He shuddered again.

“-ance! Lance!”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” Lance grinned weakly at Keith.

“Idiot!”

“Thank you, thank you. I need to go fly this thing.”

“You can’t fly this! You’re still shuddering with electricity, or whatever that is!”

“Yeah, well, you can’t even get up. Don’t try lying to me, Keith. I can see that your leg is broken.”

Keith hissed. “So? I… can… fly!”

“You’re about to collapse. Don’t lie to me. You aren’t going to be flying anything anytime soon.”

“Neither are you! I can see that _you_ are on the verge of collapse!”

Lance exhaled. “How are we supposed to get out, then? It’s only a matter of time before Lotor and Hagar become organized enough to send out some ships after us.” He snapped as an idea came to him, regretting it as a zap of energy sparked from that. “I got it. Keith, we’re ejecting you into outer space again!”

Keith closed his eyes, leaning back on the wall. “Fine, but we have to move fast. I’m about to pass out” As gently but as quickly as he could, Lance helped Keith into his armor. A sudden drain of energy crashed down on Lance, and he was seeing spots.

Keith activated his face mask. “Do it. Fast.”

Lance dragged himself to the pilot’s seat and hit the airlock button. The door behind him sealed shut, and there was a _whoosh_ as Keith was sucked into outer space. Lance waited. And waited, eyelids getting heavier and heavier each moment. As Lance had feared, fighters were sent out. But then, but then, Lance’s heart jumped when he heard a familiar roar, and Red appeared out of a wormhole, the other lions following, as well as the castle. The energy was still draining from him, little by little, but he saw as the castle loomed ahead of him, and the yellow lion had clamped onto the pod and was driving him to safety. And gentle hands (were those Allura’s?) were picking him up and putting his battered body into the welcome sleep of a cyro pod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up; Keith probably won't do that anytime in this fan fiction.


	7. Hoping and Praying for a Brighter Day

_Blue!_

_My paladin! I am sorry I could not come to you! The red lion stopped me!_

_She was doing the right thing. They would have killed Keith._

_They almost killed_ you _!_

_Almost. But I’m okay._

Blue seemed to be searching his memories. _Okay is a relative term,_ she replied firmly. Amusement radiated from her.

_Oh, not you too._

Blue nuzzled him gently. _I didn’t want them to hurt you._

_You know, Red feels the same way about Keith._

A flash of disbelief shot from the blue lion. _Impossible. Nobody loves anybody as much as I love you._

 _Well, maybe not._ Lance leaned on the blue lion’s paw, just glad to be with her, someone who would _never_ treat him different. Who would _never_ judge him, not for anything. His best friend.

 

Lance was running. Running for his life. If they caught him, he’d be dead. (If who caught him…) It didn’t matter, he’d be dead. (Why was he running?) Because he’d be dead. (Who was going to kill him?) did it matter? (Yes… and was he running in blood…) All that mattered was that he was running. (Face your fears) no! If he stopped to face them, he’d die! (It’s all in your head) no, he was going to die! (Not if he stopped running and faced it)

 

“Hey, Lance!”

Lance’s head snapped up from the uneasy doze he’d slipped into. “Oh… hey, Hunk.” He rubbed sleep from his eyes, trying to forget the nightmare. “What’s up?”

“Shiro wants us in the control room. We’ve got a mission. Are you okay?”

Lance waved his hand. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He took Hunk’s offered hand, and Hunk pulled him up, before hugging him.

“I missed you, Lance.”

“I missed you too, buddy.”

 

“Alright! Everybody listen up! The Galra soldiers have a village held hostage, and the ruler asked for our help. We get in, defeat the Galra, liberate the village, leave. And Lance,” Shiro grinned at Lance, for a moment looking like he didn’t have the weight of the universe on his shoulders, “I don’t think we can do a parade.”

 

Lance took a deep breath before shooting another sentry down. They couldn’t hurt his friends. Not ever again. But he was too preoccupied watching out for his friends that he didn’t see the one that had crept up to the tree he was sitting in.

Alarm bells rang in his head when the shot was fired, and he threw himself out of the way. However, he hadn’t been the target. The tree branch he had been sitting on snapped. He let out a very unmanly squeak and tumbled to the ground.

“Ouch, geeze…” He rubbed his head before turning to the more important prospect of his impending death. He struggled to get into a ready position, but the soldier was practically on him. And then it stopped. Sparking with electricity, the robot collapsed, revealing Keith standing with sword out.

“Maybe you should find a better sniping spot.”

Lance struggled to his feet. “I’m fine, how’re you,” he muttered. “Do _you_ have any better ideas?”

“Sure.” Keith stood in front of Lance and activated his shield. “Shoot over the shield.”

Lance smirked. “You do realize I’m taller that you? They can still hit me.”

“Shut up. I won’t mourn you if they _do_ hit you.”

“Ouch.” Lance fired a shot. One more Galra down, a hundred to go. “This won’t work forever.”

Keith’s sword slashed out and hit a Galra sentry who had gotten close. “Works for now. I’ve got… ten minutes left. Okay. We can do this.”

“Ten minutes till what?”

“Look very carefully.”

A sudden realization hit Lance like a thunderbolt. “How is your armor fitting over your cast?” It had turned out that the cyro pods weren’t too good at healing broken bones, so Keith had been in a cast.

“It’s not fitting. It’s off.”

“Off? Is your leg healed?”

“No. Altean medicine. Strengthens bones, but only works for about two hours. Essentially, Allura gave me alien pain meds. But they could wear off any minute now. Which is one of the reasons I’m back here with you instead of on the front lines.”

“Okay. You going to go all wobbly?”

“Not yet. I’ll tell you when I do. Think we can take a hundred sentries out in ten minutes?”

“Not a doubt in my mind.” Lance fired as quickly and accurately as he could, but there seemed to be no end of soldiers. They may have _come_ to keep the village hostage, but there were so many of them that they must have sent more to deal with the paladins. Lance had set a clock to tell him when ten minutes was up, and it beeped softly. Lance glanced at Keith. They guy obviously needed to stop, but he didn’t. Stupid stubborn idiot. “Move!” Keith’s shield had dropped and a shot was hurtling right towards his heart. Lance yanked him out of the way, shooting at the sentry who had fired. “You okay- What are you doing?”

Keith was hanging from one ankle in a noose. “I think you shoved me into a hunting trap. Fantastic job, genius.” His face was getting red, but Lance couldn’t tell if it was because he was embarrassed or because the blood was rushing to his head. Probably both.

“Hold on, I’ll get you down.” Lance fired a single shot at the rope, Keith falling to the floor with a thump and a tiny snap. “Uh-oh. Why was there a snap? There shouldn’t be a snap.”

“I think I just broke my leg again,” Keith remarked softly, “Allura’s gonna _kill_ me.”

Lance looked up at all the sentries that were now surrounding them. “She might not have to.”

 

“Surrender, paladins. We have you surrounded, and you are injured.”

Keith snarled defiantly. “in your dreams!” From his belt pocket he pulled something- was that a grenade? - and threw it at the sentries. Turned out it _was_ a grenade, because it exploded with a _bang_. One of the sentries grabbed onto his arm, so he pulled the second one’s pin with his teeth. And then he threw it at Lance.

Lance reflexively caught the grenade, which exploded into a thick smoke, hiding everything from view.

“Lance.” Keith’s voice sounded softly from his com. “I’m dead ahead. I can’t get up. The smoke’s only going to last for five minutes.”

“Gotcha.” Lance ran straight, almost jumping out of his skin when a hand clasped around his ankle.

“Shh. Don’t scream, it’s me.”

 Lance grasped Keith’s arm and hauled him up to his feet, supporting him. “You going to be alright?”

“I… don’t think I can walk. My whole leg has gone numb, which is probably a bad sign.”

“Okay. Right. Shiro?”

Their leader’s voice sounded. “What’s up Lance?”

“Keith can’t walk.”

The distant sound of cursing was broadcasted into Lance’s ear. “It wore off, didn’t it?”

Keith shrugged, even though Shiro wouldn’t be able to see him. “Maybe.”

“Keith!”

“I’m fine! It doesn’t hurt! I just can’t feel my leg!”

There was a moment of silence. “Okay. I’m calling Allura for an extraction.”

“No, I’m fine!”

“You are not!”

“Lance, how does he look?”

Keith glared at Lance. Lance gulped. “Um… not too good. His leg is dangling funny.”

“Traitor.”

“Thanks, Lance. Keith, hold on, Allura’s going to pick you up.”

“I. Don’t. Need. An. Extraction.”

“Hold them off until she gets there.”

“Sure.” Lance set Keith against a tree. “No crawling off, okay?”

“Help!” Lance’s head snapped up. A team of sentries were dragging away a group of villagers. “Somebody, please!”

Lance looked helplessly at them and then at Keith. Orders, or innocents?

“Go. I think I can kill a couple of robots.”

Lance nodded and ran towards the villagers.

“Halt, paladin, or we will kill the hostages.” Lance shot the robot talking. And then another, and soon, all of them were dead.

“Hey, are you all of the villagers? Nobody else?” Nods. “Okay. Get yourself hidden and safe. We’ll handle the remaining sentries.” They nodded and scattered.

Lance ran back where he’d left Keith, but the red paladin was nowhere to be seen. Lance put a hand to his helm, breathing speeding up. He’d left an injured Keith alone. And now he was gone. What had he done? _What had he done?!_

“Hey.”

Lance looked up, and sitting above him in a tree was Keith. “What are you doing up there?”

“Well, there were a _lot_ of sentries, and I had some time, so. I climbed a tree.”

“You can’t move your leg.”

Keith winced and rubbed his arm, sliding to the ground very ungracefully. “Let’s just say next time Shiro asks if I want to do an arm workout, I won’t refuse. Or a core workout.”

Lance tapped the side of his helmet. “Shiro? All of the villagers are out, so civilian casualties aren’t a problem. Go loose.”

“Thanks, Lance. Allura says she’ll be down soon, so hang tight.”

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“I can feel my leg again.”

Lance looked at Keith. His face was white with pain, and he looked like he was going to pass out again.

“Hold on, Allura’s almost here.”

A pod crashed through the trees, and landed smoothly in front of them. Allura hurried out. “Look at you! I told you not to exert yourself!”

“I didn’t exert myself,” Keith grumbled, “Lance did.” Allura picked Keith up.

“This is still unnerving.”

“You can catch me when I fall, I can pick you up.” She carried Keith back to the pod, looking back at Lance. “Thank you for keeping him safe.”

Lance turned bright red. “Right! Um, no problem, princess!”

It wasn’t long before the paladins finished off the remaining Galra, and were back on the castle. Keith had had his leg re-set, and was told he would be back on crutches for another month, much to his dismay.

 

 

Lance was running. Running for his life. If they caught him, he’d be dead. (If who caught him…) It didn’t matter, he’d be dead. (Why was he running?) Because he’d be dead. (Who was going to kill him?) did it matter? (Yes… and was he running in blood…) All that mattered was that he was running. (Face your fears) no! If he stopped to face them, he’d die! (It’s all in your head) no, he was going to die! (Not if he stopped running and faced it)

 

Lance sat up straight in bed, drenched in sweat. He shook his head and got up, starting to run down the hallways, not even sure where he was going. He was still running when he slammed into Keith, who was limping down the hall.

“Ow, quiznek, are you trying to break my leg _again_?”

“Sorry!”

“What are you even doing in the hall at night?”

“I could ask the same thing of you.”

“Oh, um, you know, just… taking a walk, hobble, whatever.”

“In the middle of the night. You’re not trying to run away again, are you?”

“If I was, I wouldn’t take you with me.”

“Seriously. A walk in the middle of the night?”

“Insomnia.”

Lance tilted his head. He could see the same look in Keith’s eyes that he himself saw in the mirror every time he woke up from a nightmare. “You had a nightmare too?”

Keith avoided his eyes. “So?” His brows creased. “Wait, too? You’ve been having nightmares?”

It was Lance’s turn to avoid his teammate’s eyes. “So?”

 

 

“You first.”

Keith sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Maybe, I don’t know, probably a year ago, I had a nightmare that I was Galra. That’s when I ran away. It came back tonight, but this time… I was in a blood-lust, but I didn’t recognize anyone as friend or foe, I just started killing. And… I killed all of you. And then I woke up.”

“Oh. Wow. Um… well, I doubt you’ll ever actually do that.”

“What about you?”

Lance sighed and re-counted his nightmare. Keith’s brow crinkled. “Wait, so you never see what’s behind you?”

“Never.”

“Why don’t you try listening to the other voice? The one telling you to stop?”

“Because… I don’t know, it just never seems to make sense.”

Keith nodded. “Rule of terror. You listen to the threats, and not to sense.”

“So, what, I should turn around?”

“Well, it’s a dream. The worst that happens is you die and then you wake up.” Keith got up, using his crutch for support. “I don’t know if that’ll help, but there’s no harm in trying. Thanks for listening.” He hobbled off, leaving Lance to ponder his words.


	8. I Listen to My Heart and I Obey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am done with Keith and Lance. Keith and Lance are boring, I don't want to do them anymore. I want... Shiro and Lance. Yeah. No more Keith. Shiro

“Lance, how are we looking?”

“Great, Shiro. I’ve almost got it open.” Lance fired twice into a door. He’d been using his bayard to force open a solid door by firing his gun repeatedly until the metal melted. Thanks to Shiro, his work had been uninterrupted. Some bleeping little device that they couldn’t find had shut down Shiro’s arm whenever he got within five feet of the door, hence their current solution.

“Are you guys almost in?”

“Yeah, Hunk. How is your end?”

“Well, they’re pretty distracted. But, uh, could you please hurry? We’re kind of the things distracting them!”

“It’s okay, Hunk, we’ve got Keith standing by for extraction, you know that.”

“Much against my will.”

“You’re barely off of the crutches. Give it time. Pidge, have you had any luck locating that device?”

“I’m working on it, but I have to keep moving, since I was originally a distraction.”

“I know. Keep going.”

“And… We’re in!” Lance gave the frame he’d cut in the door a good shove, and it moved, ever so slightly. “Aw, man,” Lance grumbled, “Why can’t it topple to the ground in one hit, cool movie style?!” He shoved it again, this time Shiro helping. With the added strength, it slowly moved out of its frame and onto the floor.

“Okay. Let’s go.” The two paladins climbed in through the hole, Lance going first with his gun ready for any danger, Shiro not far behind. “What do you think they keep in here?”

“I don’t know, but with that much security designed to keep you and your arm out, it must be pretty legit.”

“Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“Hide.”

“What?”

“Hide!” Shiro shoved Lance behind a barrel as footsteps echoed behind them. The door in front of them slammed shut, leaving only the melted door behind them.

“Oh, very clever, Champion.” Haggar inspected the melted door with great interest. “I suppose you got the red paladin to burn a hole with its fire beam?”

“What is this room for?!”

Haggar cackled. “It’s for holding you, of course. We knew you wouldn’t be able to resist a room that seemed so specified to keep you out. Those small devices that prevent your arm from working? There’s a reason that the green paladin can’t hack them. They are simply metal shells infused with a special quintessence that prevents you from using your arm. The same quintessence that shuts the doors when you get close, and the same dark quintessence that is going to slowly drain away your life-force and leave you dead on the floor within an hour. This whole building is going to be shut down with quintessence so that your little hacker friend can’t get in. nobody can. You can’t even communicate with anyone outside of this building.” She lifted the block Lance had blasted out and sealed it, using her lightning to start all the processes that she had spoken of. The walls glowed with a purple energy that seemed to make Shiro weaker.

“Shiro!”

“Lance, I want to try something.” He walked to the edge of the room, to the newly sealed door. The door on the other side of the room opened. But when Shiro moved towards it again, it hissed shut. He retreated back to the other side. “Lance, go through there.”

Lance stared skeptically at the door, but walked over. Amazingly, it stayed open. “What is going on here?”

Shiro sat on the floor and leaned on the wall with a smile. “That’s what I thought. She was so preoccupied with keeping Pidge _out_ that she never prepared the room for anyone other than me being _in_.”

“Huh?”

“It’s tailored to _my_ quintessence. _Yours_ is fine. You can go anywhere. The only person this cage is meant to hold is me.”

“How does that help us?”

“Think. You’re not stupid, Lance.”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut. “Um… Wait! How is she providing all this quintessence?”

“Bingo.”

“There has to be a source nearby!”

“And it has to be in the building because…”

“Because she is sure that she can hold you _in_ and keep everybody else _out_ so the power source is here, where supposedly nobody can get at it!”

“That’s right. But she didn’t count on you. You can destroy the quintessence. But be careful. Just because there are no electronic traps, she probably would have set up a few trip-wires. Just in case. The helmets should work for us, since we’re both inside, so keep in touch.”

“Got it!” Lance raced out of the room, ready to save Shiro.

 

 

He was only halfway down the hallway before he set off the first trap. A massive blade swung down from the ceiling, slicing where he’d been about to step. He shrieked and jumped backwards.

“Lance, is everything okay?”

“Shiro, could you roll one of those barrels down here?” Shiro obliged, and Lance rolled it down the rest of the hallway. More things were shot at it, and swung from the ceiling, but nothing touched it. “So, it’s pressurized on the floor, but in you get low enough… Lance got onto his belly and army crawled, blades slicing overhead, trying to remain calm. There was a splintering crash, and Lance looked down the hallway. At the very end of the stupid thing was a guillotine-style blade, that went up and down. But directly behind it was a swinging blade, so Lance couldn’t get up and run past the guillotine. He was going to have to army crawl the whole way. He gulped and quickly crawled to the last blade. He watched it go up and then back down. He timed it. Then, just as it started going back up, he made a mad crawl for it.

With a mighty _crash_ Lance felt something slam down, _hard_ , on his back. The guillotine had a second pressure release directly under it. Lance gingerly looked back, expecting to see blood, and possibly a severed half, but since it hadn’t been at its greatest height when it fell, and because of his armor, it was just smashed halfway down into his armor, splintering it. He gulped. Another close call like that, and he was dead. The blade lifted again, and Lance quickly pulled the rest of his body through without any more incidents. He examined his broken armor.

“Allura’s going to _kill_ me.”

“Lance, are you okay?”

“Yeah. _Really_ close call, but I’m fine.”

Some words floated across his helmet’s visor. _Hey, “Sharpshooter.”_

“Pidge? Is that you?”

 _Yup. Haggar may have kept her_ building _secure, but she forgot to take away anything computerized that was already on you._

“But she said she kept communications off!”

_I hacked your helmets. Pretty easy. Especially since Allura gave me the codes._

“You, ma’am, are a bona-fide _genius_!”

 _I know. You need to tell me that more often. Anyway, I’m going to send you a map of this death trap. Oh, and Allura says if you damage your armor any more, she_ will _kill you._

“How does she even know?!”

 _We got damage assessments of the armor when we hacked the helmets._ A map floated onto Lance’s visor, along with the words _have fun_.

“Great.” On the map was a big room labeled, “Quintessence Energy Source” Lance carefully examined the little blue dot where he was, and the little green path that led to the room, before nodding. He could do this.

 

 

He couldn’t do this. Haggar had thought of _everything_. The door to the quintessence had a statue of a dragon head above it. Underneath it was a puzzle that, when put together properly, would look like the dragon head. One problem. Well, two, really. One: if the puzzle was put together incorrectly, the dragon head spit fire, and incinerated you. Lance had seen the remains of melted sentries. Two: the instant you put a puzzle piece in the correct spot, it disappeared from view. You had to remember _exactly_ what you put where. Sweat beaded Lance’s forehead. He had already been here for about half an hour, and was only halfway done. He silently thanked his lucky stars for family puzzle nights, which had gotten him this far, and for his siblings who had thought it was hilarious to blindfold him while he was doing a puzzle. Shiro’s breathing was getting more and more labored, and Lance knew he didn’t have much time. In fact, he had practically had none. It had already taken him fifteen minutes to get where he was, so he only had about fifteen minutes left.

“I can’t do this. I can’t! I’m sorry, Shiro, I’m not going to be able to finish!”

“Lance-”

“I’m not smart or brave or good at anything, I’m so, so, sorry.”

“Lance-”

“I know right now you probably wished you’d brought someone else, and I do too, I’m useless.”

“Lance, you’re not useless.”

“Yeah, I am, and now you’re going to die for it!”

“Lance, you’re not useless. You’re smart, and brave, you’re probably braver than anyone else I know.”

“Ha. Keith is the bravest person you know. You don’t have to lie to me, Shiro.”

“I’m not. Keith is instinctual, he just jumps in without thinking. Bravery is thinking about the risks, considering each one and then doing it anyway. That’s what you do. Don’t consider yourself a coward because you think. That also proves that you’re smart.”

“I’m still useless.”

“No, you’re not. You’re the best shooter, and you can make us laugh. I mean, honestly, do you think that I could actually pull off a joke?”

“Mostly people groan.”

“But here’s the thing, Lance. You think outside the box. Now do it! Think outside the box!”

Lance looked at the puzzle. Wait. Who said he had to put it onto the square? What if… He picked up a puzzle piece. Did he have to put it directly on, or could he assemble the puzzle first? He pieced a couple of shapes together. He could! He quickly put what was left of the puzzle together and dropped it triumphantly on the block. There was a _click_ , and the pieces sank in. A grinding noise followed, and the door opened.

 

What was inside… a massive room, full of raw quintessence! What was… he squinted at a small amount of black colored quintessence. Was that… Shiro’s quintessence? A small blip of purple caught his eye. And Haggar’s quintessence too So _that_ was what was tailoring everything to keep Shiro in. But how was he supposed to destroy it? He fired a shot into the quintessence, but it just bubbled and hissed at him.

An idea hit Lance. This small amount of Shiro’s and Haggar’s quintessence was what was causing all these things, then what if he put in a larger amount of some different quintessence? But, of course, where would he get any other quintessence? Another idea smacked Lance in the face. A really, _really_ bad idea. But a _brilliant_ bad idea. If he jumped into the vat of quintessence, would it change the essence of what the quintessence was geared for? Bad idea, _really_ bad. But he only had… five minutes? There wasn’t enough time. There was never enough time.

 

Lance stared at the pool of quintessence. He’d stripped off his armor and was ready to jump in. Maybe. Probably not. He pushed that thought out of his mind. He had to do it. Shiro would die if he didn’t. He took a deep breath. And jumped.

 

Shiro sat up with a gasp as a sudden flow of energy flooded his senses. He had been close to death, on his last legs. But now every bit of energy he had lost and then some crashed back into him, the door opening. a scream echoed through the hallway. He shot to his feet. Lance.

 

Lance was running. Running for his life. If they caught him, he’d be dead. (If who caught him…) It didn’t matter, he’d be dead. (Why was he running?) Because he’d be dead. (Who was going to kill him?) did it matter? (Yes… and was he running in blood…) All that mattered was that he was running. (Face your fears) no! If he stopped to face them, he’d die! (It’s all in your head) no, he was going to die! (Not if he stopped running and faced it) Lance took a deep breath. He could do this. All he had to do was turn around. So he did. He stopped running and turned around. Facing him was Daksha.

“Lance.” Keith stepped up next to him, his stomach impaled with a knife, then Shiro, looking like a ghost.

“Shiro?”

“It’s okay, Lance. I’m fine. Thanks to you.” Lance’s legs turned to jelly and he collapsed to his knees.

Keith nodded to Lance “So am I. Thanks to you.”

Lance looked at Daksha. “You’re dead, though. It’s my fault.”

“No. I chose it, and I don’t regret a thing. I would do it ten more times over if I could.”

Lance looked at the ground, the blood-soaked land. Red. The color of blood. The color of discord, of strife. But those weren’t the only things red was the color of. Red was also the color of love, the color of bravery. Not always a bad color. Kool-Aid made with younger siblings and taken to a picnic color, strawberries, apples, not just blood. He looked up, smiling. “Thank you. I understand.” He opened his eyes...

…And screamed as pure energy flowed through him. He could feel the bruise from the guillotine healing, but it burned at the same time, it burned, but was cool, was refreshing, but it hurt! Everything hurt, no, everything was beautiful, it was too bright, no, everything else was too dark. Too much power, no, there was never _enough_ power! He rose slowly out of the vat, losing himself to the energy.

 

Shiro raced towards the sound of the scream and entered the room in time to see Lance rise from the vat of quintessence, eyes glowing eerily.

“Nobody can use this again.” Shiro shivered. Lance’s voice was his, but there was a different quality to it. “Never again. A planet died to get this, and it should not be used for this purpose.” One hand rose, and the room shook.

Everything began to collapse around Shiro. The light faded from Lance’s eyes, and he fell towards the floor, unconscious. Shiro ran and caught him.

“You’re okay, you’re okay. He cradled Lance in his arms, running out of the room and out of the building as it collapsed. They didn’t make it.

 

When Pidge called that she had found their helmet’s signal, Keith used the red lion to dig as far as they dared before digging with their hands. When they found the two paladins, Shiro was curled around Lance protectively.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. a bonding chapter for both Pidge and Hunk, and then I'm done.


	9. How Can I See It Any Other Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOO! TWO CHAPTERS WITHIN 24 HOURS OF EACH OTHER! GO HYPER-FOCUS!

Lance opened his eyes, sure he was going to be blind. But he wasn’t. Everything was a little blurry, but that stopped when he blinked the sleep out of them. Coran, who was sitting nearby, jumped up.

“Oh! You’re awake!”

Lance squinted at the Altean. “Coran, you look… orange-er.”

Coran stopped in his tracks. “Come again?”

“You look… more orange.”

Coran checked Lance’s forehead and peered into his eyes. “Are you feeling alright, Lance? You had a very close call.”

“No,” Lance protested, “I’m fine. It just seems like the air around you is… orange.”

“Hm. I didn’t _think_ you had a concussion, but I suppose I should check again.”

“No, Coran, I’m _fine_.”

Allura dashed in, beaming. “You’re awake!”

Lance gasped. While Coran was just oranges, Allura shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow. “Allura, you’re beautiful!”

She gave him a quizzical look, as if she wasn’t sure whether he was hallucinating or attempting (very badly) to flirt. “Um… okay. Coran, how’s he doing?”

“Well, all of his signs are normal and healthy, but he keeps saying the oddest things about colors. Keeps saying I’m orange.”

“Do you think he has a concussion? Maybe things are blurring and your hair is… I don’t know, affecting his sight?”

“Maybe. But maybe…” Coran pulled Allura over and started whispering in her ear. Lance wished he knew what they were saying.

“You really think…”

“I believe…”

“Should we try…” Allura straightened and smiled at Lance, but it seemed more forced than before. “I’m going to tell the others that you’re okay. They’ll want to see you.”

“Where are they, anyway?”

“Well, they were all crowding, and we had to make them go away so that you could recover, and then we had to forcibly eject Shiro and practically shove him into bed.”

Lance felt a little better about them not being here, but he had an unexplainable feeling that he was a lab rat.

“Why don’t you go back to sleep? I’m sure you’re still tired after your ordeal.” She patted him on the shoulder and left. Lance followed her advice and went back to sleep.

 

 

“Hey, buddy!” Lance grinned up at Hunk, who was glowing with a cheerful yellow. Not that Lance was going to say anything, because he was _not_ going to get checked over my Coran _again_. After Hunk piled in Pidge (who was predictably glowing green) and Keith (who was even more predictably glowing red). Shiro was nowhere to be seen.

“Shiro’s in bed,” Hunk said in answer to Lance’s questioning look, “He was up two nights in a row watching you, and Allura didn’t want to wake him up.”

Lance nodded.

“So, how do you feel? Your head’s okay after all that quintessence?” Subtle Pidge trying to delicately edge into the subject.

“Yeah.”

“Coran told us you were seeing colors. What’s all that about?” Ah, the _ever_ so subtle Keith Kogane.

Pidge glared at Keith. “Fantastic job, genius.”

“What?”

“Well, now that Mr. Blunt over here has spoiled everything, we might as well discuss it. No hiding anything. Tell. I _promise_ we won’t tell Allura or Coran if you don’t want us to.”

Lance sighed. “Fine. When I woke up, Coran was glowing orange. Kind of like a haze around him. And then Allura kind of… I don’t know, shimmered in different colors of the rainbow.”

“Do we have colors?”

“Yeah. Hunk, you’ve got a yellow blaze.”

“You said that Allura’s shimmered, Coran’s was a haze, and mine is a blaze?”

“Yeah, yours is kind of like the sun, blazing around you. Pidge, you’ve got this green… glow, I guess. Like, you know, when you turn on your phone in the dark and there’s that glow? You’ve got that around you. Keith, yours is red, and it, I don’t know, it doesn’t blaze like Hunk’s, like the sun, it’s more like a fire is burning around you.”

            “I knew it!” Coran walked in, a massive grin on his face. “You can see another’s quintessence!”

Lance whipped his head around to look suspiciously at his teammates. Pidge held her hands up peaceably. “We didn’t tell him. You did.”

“That was a dirty trick.”

Allura, who had followed Coran out clapped her hands twice. “Focus, please. Lance, because of your exposure to that much quintessence, you appear to be able to see other’s quintessence. Shiro?”

Shiro edged in, looking nervous. “Hi.”

Lance smiled. Shiro’s quintessence was an odd mixture of colors, not quite a rainbow like Allura’s, it was darker. Deep purples and reds mixed with black, streaks of yellow and green making an appearance, along with an underlying calming blue color.

“Shiro was, um, worried that his colors might be too… dark.”

“No, I like your colors, Shiro. You have very nice colors. Like outer space in the pretty parts.”

Shiro’s grin spread all over his face. “Really?”

“Yeah. It makes a pretty kaleidoscope. It kind of… swirls…” Lance yawned, suddenly tired. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was a gentle metal hand ruffling his hair, and a calming voice saying,  
“Sleep tight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said there would only be two more chapters, one for Hunk and one for Pidge? I lied and added this one


	10. Looking at Life

Lance was staring at Hunk. Again. He couldn’t help it; Hunk’s quintessence was just… interesting. Instead of sticking to him, like most people’s did, it spread to others. Lance had seen Hunk fix something for Coran and a golden color stayed on whatever he fixed, then spreading to Coran whenever Coran touched the device. He’d made cookies for them all, and the cheerful gold stuck to them, slipping onto whoever ate one. It was like Hunk was spreading happiness to the objects he touched. But it wasn’t everything he touched, which confused Lance. It wasn’t like he left a trail of yellow wherever he went. It was when he did things for others that the quintessence spread. Or when he hugged someone; Lance had seen Hunk hug Pidge when she was feeling low (at his great peril) and even when she snapped at him, her quintessence gained the slightest yellow touch.

“Uh, Lance? Do you need something?”

Lance snapped out of his thoughts. Hunk was staring at him, looking concerned. “Oh, sorry Hunk. It’s just… all the yellow…” He waved his hand. “It’s distracting.”

Hunk’s gaze softened. “Oh. Is it really cool?”

“Yeah. Everybody’s quintessence is just so… diverse. It’s not as simple as I thought it was.”

“Huh?”

“Well, I called yours yellow, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But there’s just so many yellows in there. There’s gold and more amber tints and lemon yellow, along with your average plain crayon box yellow. But it’s not all just plain yellow.”

Hunk blinked. “Did Allura put you onto an observation project?”

“No. I just can’t help trying to figure out this quintessence stuff.”

Hunk walked through the door. “Come on.”

Lance got up and trotted after Hunk. “Where are we going?”

“To the kitchen. Coran said he picked some new stuff up from the planet. I want to experiment, and you need to get your mind off of quintessence.”

 

Lance dipped his finger into something and tasted it. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Sweet!”

“Find something good?”

“No, like, actually sweet!”

“How sweet? Sweeter than sugar sweet?”

“ _Way_ sweeter than sugar.”

“How much?”

“Probably… I don’t know, three times?

Hunk crossed the room and tried some. “Wow, yeah, that is almost too sweet to exist. Okay. So, cut the sugar ratio down. Got it.”

Lance opened a bottle and sniffed. And then sniffed again. Man, that smelled _good_! He took in another whiff. “Hunk?”

“Hm?”

“You got shorter.” Lance didn’t know when, but apparently he had grown in the last few days and just didn’t notice until now.

Hunk barked a laugh and grabbed Lance’s ankle (wait, how did he do that?), pulling him down to earth. He’d been floating! “Okay. Note to self. Aerodynes causes you to float if you sniff it.”

“I wonder what happens if you drink it.”

“You want to try?”

“Only if you do it with me.”

“Alright. Fine.”

Lance dipped a finger in and then handed it to Hunk, who was smart enough _not_ to stick his finger in the tiny bottle, and dropped a small amount onto his finger.

“Ready?”

Hunk nodded.

“One… two… three!” They licked the Aerodynes off of their fingers and shot right into the ceiling. “AH!”

Shiro poked his head into the kitchen. “What are you two doing?”

Lance waved weakly at their leader. “Hey, Shiro, you think you could find a ladder?”

 

 

“Well, it tastes kind of like vanilla, so I guess that’s what we’ll put it down under.” Hunk had shown Lance his biggest project; cataloguing what alien substances matched up to earth substances and how the proportions could be changed to fit a recipe. Lance felt honored.

“What do you want to try next?”

“Do you have all the things we would need to make cookies?”

“Yeah, sure. Why?”

“I want to see what the Aerodynes does when you bake it. Plus, I hope I can see the looks on Pidge and Keith’s faces if they start floating. We’d have to trick Shiro into eating it though, since he probably won’t trust anything coming out of this kitchen.”

“We should probably figure out a way to stay on the ground first.”

 

The first round of cookies was left to Lance, because Hunk had to go to the bathroom, and they burned to a crisp. Hunk was patient though, and the next round turned out perfectly well. They kept baking, and Lance didn’t think about quintessence once.

 

“Ready?”

“I hope.”

“One… two… three!” Both of them bit into a cookie. Lance’s mouth practically _exploded_ with flavor. Instead of chocolate chips, Hunk had chopped up various fruits and had covered them with sweet-smelling spices. The result was instant bliss. Lance looked at the heavy boots he was wearing. He and Hunk had taped everything heavy they could onto the boots, but Lance took them off and rose gently. He leaned in one direction, and moved that way.

“Hunk,” he called delightedly, “I’ve found the secret to flying!”

 

 

“Are these… trapped somehow?”

“Mullet, I am shocked, truly shocked, that you would think that we would do something like that.”

“I’m with Mullet,” Pidge offered, “No offense, Hunk, but the last time you made cookies the only thing they were good for was worm-holing.”

“How am I _not_ supposed to take offense from that? Offense is _literally_ the only thing I can take from that!”

Keith sniffed his suspiciously. “Something about these cookies seems… off.”

Lance smirked. “Oh, no, are Keith’s Galra senses tingling?”

Keith didn’t even look up. “More like my common sense.”

“You have that?”

Keith reached over, still examining his cookie, and smacked Lance upside the head.

“Shiro, why don’t you get one?”

Shiro grinned. “No, thanks. I saw you two in there experimenting.”

“They taste delicious.”

“Nope.”

“Come on, just one,” Lance wheedled, “it can’t hurt!”

Shiro sighed and shook his head, smiling. “Fine.” He took a cookie. “But if I’m going to eat one, so are you two.” He nodded to Keith and Pidge. They looked like they thought they would regret it later, but they nodded. “Okay. GO!” All three of them took a bite and looked like they were in heaven for a single moment before they started rising off the ground.

“Lance!”

“Hunk!”

“WHAT DID YOU TWO DO!!!”

Lance and Hunk high-fived. “Mission accomplished,” Hunk cheered.

Lance grinned at his teammate, a mischievous glint in his eye. “You think we can get Allura and Coran to eat one?”

“Might as well find out!”


	11. Through My Own Eyes

Lance stopped outside the door to Pidge’s room. She’d been awfully quiet the last couple of days, not spending more than mealtimes and battles out of her room. He poked his head in the door. “Knock, knock?”

“Go away!”

Huh. That was new. Not the telling him to go away; that happened on a regular basis. But Pidge wasn’t doing _anything._ She wasn’t building anything, she wasn’t trying to learn Altean, she wasn’t even on her laptop. She was just curled into a ball on her bed. “Everything okay in here?”

“I said, go away!”

“Uh-oh,” Lance teased, “Is somebody grumpy today?”

“Get out of my room. Get out of my life,” she groaned, “just go away!”

Lance grin stretched even wider. “Oh, no, is it that time of month?”

She growled at him. “None of your business. Yes.”

Lance’s smile disappeared. Uh-oh. He recognized this from his older sisters. This was going to be… interesting. “Aw, do you have cramps?”

She nodded.

“You know what they say! You’ve got to get moving! It’ll feel better.”

“They say the same thing about cold,” Pidge grumbled, “But I always end up colder.”

“How about just to the kitchen? Just to get you a drink? And then maybe to the med-bay? See if we can find you some pain meds.”

Pidge moved and then groaned. “Here’s an idea. You go get those things and bring them back here.”

“Pidge, Pidge, Pidge, I can’t coddle you like that. Allura will get jealous. Come on, up you get.”

“I hate you.”

“Mhm, we can discuss that later. I’ll put it on the list. One: help Pidge. Two: see how much Pidge hates me. Let’s go.”

“Fine.” Pidge slid off of her bed and rose to her feet. “Let’s get this over with.”

 

 

“Hey, guys! Pidge, good to see you out of your room!”

Pidge grumbled something about “against her will” and stomped off to get some water.

Shiro stared after her, his brow creased. “What’s wrong with _her_?”

“It’s that time of the month,” Lance informed him, “She’s cramping.” Shiro and Hunk nodded knowledgeably as Pidge came back.

Keith frowned. “Cramps? Everybody gets those. She’ll be fine.” Pidge’s head whipped towards Keith, and Lance was sure she was about to forget about the pain and attack the red paladin.

“Keith,” Lance said, voice completely deadpan, “Run.”

Shiro’s head slammed onto the table, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “Nobody… nobody ever told you.” He slapped the table. “I forgot! You never would have gotten that talk… Keith, come here, I need to have a grown-up talk with you.” Keith kept one eye on Pidge but ventured to Shiro, who started to whisper in his ear.

Lance went back to Pidge and gently took her arm. “Let’s go.” As they left the room, they heard Keith’s voice rise in horror.

“They _WHAT_ from their _WHERE?_ ” and then his voice rose into a high wail. “EVERY _MONTH_?”

Lance pulled Pidge down the hall before she could go back and attack him.

 

 

“Cramps? Because of… of course we have medicine for that! What kind of savages do you take us for!” Coran blinked astonishedly at Pidge.

“I don’t know,” Pidge winced, “I kind of figured you had some kind of high-class bodies that didn’t cramp.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but we’re still mammals, like you. We just have more advanced medicine. Here.” He handed her a little bottle. “One should be fine. It starts immediately and goes for a whole week.”

“Thanks, Coran. Really.”

 

 

Lance was walking down the hallways, feeling very proud of himself. Then he heard a snuffling in a closet. He opened it up, and there was Pidge, crying and holding her picture of Matt.

“Go away,” she sniffed.

Lance’s heart melted. Here was the fragile side of Pidge that she tried not to show. The Pidge that was gone in a heartbeat if you didn’t grab onto her.

He slid down the wall next to her. “Miss your family?”

She nodded. “I… I just want to see them again.”

“I understand. I know it’s not the same, but I miss my family too.”

“I just… I just keep thinking, what if we never find them again, or what if they’re dead! Or what if… what if they don’t remember me? What if they have a memory loss worse that Shiro’s, and they don’t remember _anything_? I don’t think… I don’t think I could do that, Lance! I can’t!” She burst into tears again, and Lance gathered her into his lap. She sobbed into his chest.

“Hey, now. Hey, we’ll find them, Pidge. We’ll find them. They’ll be fine. Just you wait, they’ll be so happy to see you, and there’ll be hugging and kisses and lots of love. Just you wait.”

“But… But… what if they don’t remember?!”

“Pidge, no one, _no one_ , could _ever_ forget you. Heck, you could do a memory wipe on me and I wouldn’t remember my own name, but I’d remember you. You are probably the most unforgettable thing in this castle. And don’t you forget that.”

She sniffed, smiling slightly. Lance expected her to leave, but she didn’t. She stayed curled up with him, hiccupping a little, until she fell asleep in his lap. With strength he didn’t know he had, Lance carried her down to her room and laid her gently in her bed, pulling the blankets up over her. She sighed contently in her sleep and snuggled into the blankets.

Lance kissed her forehead gently. “Good night, Pidgeon. Fly free in your dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gives a whole new meaning to the title, but I promise it wasn't meant that way.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, I have some stress to work out. and I worked it out on Lance and Keith. Whoops.


End file.
